As I explain in a story published today, some go up for rent. Others are sold and converted. Still others just sit, silent and vacant. (One in Portland, Ore., was converted into a hotel/restaurant/bar.)

If you grew up playing and learning at a school, it’s difficult to see the grounds as anything but a place for education, as one Clarksville alumnus told me. But in the wake of the budget’s $1.2 billion cuts to education, districts are increasingly pressed to make these decisions.